Apparatus and method for unicast, broadcast, and multicast services

ABSTRACT

A method for unicast, broadcast and multicast services executable by a user equipment (UE) is provided. The UE transmits an indication message to indicate a first intended service of a first traffic type and a second intended service of a second traffic type to the network. The first traffic type may be unicast traffic, and the second traffic type may be multimedia broadcast/multicast service (MBMS) traffic. The UE receives downlink configuration, which is generated by the network based on the indication message, and receives a downlink frame carrying the first intended service and the second intended service according to the downlink configuration.

BACKGROUND OF DISCLOSURE 1. Field of Disclosure

The present disclosure relates to the field of wireless communication,and more particularly, to a multimedia broadcast/multicast service(MBMS) system.

2. Description of Related Art

Multimedia broadcast/multicast service (MBMS) is a point-to-multipointinterface designed to provide efficient delivery of broadcast andmulticast services in Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP)cellular networks. MBMS delivers multicast services within a single cellusing single cell point to multipoint (SC-PTM) transmission, anddelivers broadcast services within a group of multiples cells usingmultimedia broadcast multicast service single frequency network (MBSFN)transmission. SC-PTM uses the same Long Term Evolution (LTE) downlinkshared channel and subframe structure for transmission while MBSFNdefines new channels and has a different subframe structure than aregular subframe LTE to ensure the transmission over a group of cells.

Technical Problem

Current LTE MBMS design in technical specification (TS) 36.300 and TS36.331 has problems to support future MBMS and unicast applications,especially in MBSFN transmission mode. The information elements (IEs)used to indicate the information, values, and parameters regarding MBMSand unicast reception operation, which is transmitted by a userequipment (UE) to an operator network, are insufficient or not welldefined to support fifth generation (5G) use cases. A solution to theproblems is desired, but no solution is proposed or considered by 3GPP.Improving the MBMS specifications to address these problems areessential to achieve new radio (NR) MBMS.

SUMMARY

An object of the present disclosure is to propose an apparatus and amethod. The methods proposed in this disclosure provide some UE side RANenhancements related to the support of simultaneous operation of MBMSand unicast in NR system.

In a first aspect, the present disclosure provides a method for unicast,broadcast, and multicast services, executable by a user equipment,comprising: transmitting an indication message to indicate a firstintended service of a first traffic type and a second intended serviceof a second traffic type, wherein one of the first traffic type and thesecond traffic type is unicast traffic, and the other one of the firsttraffic type and the second traffic type is non-unicast traffic;receiving downlink configuration which is generated based on theindication message; and receiving a downlink frame carrying the firstintended service and the second intended service according to thedownlink configuration.

In an embodiment of the disclosure, the method further comprisesreceiving a first radio resource unit of the first intended service anda second radio resource unit of the second intended service according tothe downlink configuration, wherein the first radio resource unit andthe second radio resource unit are multiplexed into different time slotson a same frequency band.

In an embodiment of the disclosure, the method further comprisesreceiving a first radio resource unit of the first intended service anda second radio resource unit of the second intended service according tothe downlink configuration, wherein the first radio resource unit andthe second radio resource unit are multiplexed on different frequencybands.

In a second aspect, the present disclosure provides a method forunicast, broadcast, and multicast services, executable by a userequipment, comprising: receiving an indication message indicating afirst intended service of a first traffic type and a second intendedservice of a second traffic type, wherein one of the first traffic typeand the second traffic type is unicast traffic, and the other one of thefirst traffic type and the second traffic type is non-unicast traffic;transmitting downlink configuration which is generated based on theindication message; and transmitting a downlink frame carrying the firstintended service and the second intended service according to thedownlink configuration.

In an embodiment of the disclosure, the method further comprisestransmitting a first radio resource unit of the first intended serviceand a second radio resource unit of the second intended serviceaccording to the downlink configuration, wherein the first radioresource unit and the second radio resource unit are multiplexed intodifferent time slots on a same frequency band.

In an embodiment of the disclosure, the method further comprisestransmitting a first radio resource unit of the first intended serviceand a second radio resource unit of the second intended serviceaccording to the downlink configuration, wherein the first radioresource unit and the second radio resource unit are multiplexed ondifferent frequency bands.

In a third aspect, the present disclosure provides an apparatus atransceiver and a processor connected with the transceiver. Theprocessor is configured to execute the following steps comprising:transmitting an indication message to indicate a first intended serviceof a first traffic type and a second intended service of a secondtraffic type, wherein one of the first traffic type and the secondtraffic type is unicast traffic, and the other one of the first traffictype and the second traffic type is non-unicast traffic; receivingdownlink configuration which is generated based on the indicationmessage; and receiving a downlink frame carrying the first intendedservice and the second intended service according to the downlinkconfiguration.

In a fourth aspect, the present disclosure provides a radio nodecomprising a transceiver and a processor connected with the transceiver.The processor is configured to execute the following steps comprising:receiving an indication message indicating a first intended service of afirst traffic type and a second intended service of a second traffictype, wherein one of the first traffic type and the second traffic typeis unicast traffic, and the other one of the first traffic type and thesecond traffic type is non-unicast traffic; transmitting downlinkconfiguration which is generated based on the indication message; andtransmitting a downlink frame carrying the first intended service andthe second intended service according to the downlink configuration.

The disclosed method may be implemented in a chip. The chip may includea processor, configured to call and run a computer program stored in amemory, to cause a device in which the chip is installed to execute thedisclosed method.

The disclosed method may be programmed as computer executableinstructions stored in non-transitory computer readable medium. Thenon-transitory computer readable medium, when loaded to a computer,directs a processor of the computer to execute the disclosed method.

The non-transitory computer readable medium may comprise at least onefrom a group consisting of: a hard disk, a CD-ROM, an optical storagedevice, a magnetic storage device, a Read Only Memory, a ProgrammableRead Only Memory, an Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory, EPROM, anElectrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory and a Flash memory.

The disclosed method may be programmed as computer program product, thatcauses a computer to execute the disclosed method.

The disclosed method may be programmed as computer program, that causesa computer to execute the disclosed method.

Advantageous Effects

The main advantages of the disclosed methods over the existing LTEdesign include:

In LTE MBMS, no information or indication is provided to the radioaccess network (RAN) regarding the ongoing unicast services, and theinformation or indication regarding the ongoing MBMS services is onlyprovided in the SC-PTM MBMS mode, which makes it difficult for thenetwork to decide how to multiplex the unicast and MBMS transmissiontoward UE. The disclosure redefines and provides additional IEs for UEto indicate such information and to assist the network to configure thetransmission of MBMS and unicast services.

Additionally, LTE MBMS IEs used to indicate the UE reception mode to RANsupport only two types of reception modes: either unicast reception modeor MBMS reception mode. The disclosure provides the support ofsimultaneous reception of MBMS and unicast in addition to the unicastmode and MBMS reception mode.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the presentdisclosure or related art, the following figures will be described inthe embodiments are briefly introduced. It is obvious that the drawingsare merely some embodiments of the present disclosure, a person havingordinary skill in this field can obtain other figures according to thesefigures.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a system according to anembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an example of 5G core network.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a mobile terminal and a networkexecuting the method according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a method according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing indication messages and downlinkreconfiguration in a single band MBMS deployment scenario.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing indication messages and downlinkreconfiguration in a multiband MBMS deployment scenario.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a system for wireless communicationaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Embodiments of the present disclosure are described in detail with thetechnical matters, structural features, achieved objects, and effectswith reference to the accompanying drawings as follows. Specifically,the terminologies in the embodiments of the present disclosure aremerely for describing the purpose of the certain embodiment, but not tolimit the disclosure.

In current MBMS design, information elements (IEs) for communicationbetween a user equipment (UE) and an operator network (NW) regardingMBMS and unicast reception operation are insufficient to supportsimultaneous MBMS and unicast reception. Only MBMS related IEs areavailable while no unicast related IE is provided. Thus, new IEs forcommunication between a UE and a NW regarding unicast services isdesired in NR based MBMS. The new IEs may be defined in NR to facilitatethe simultaneous reception of MBMS and unicast.

An objective of the invention is to resolve the above-identifiedproblems. The disclosure provides a method and an apparatus to overcomethe identified problems and allow UE to receive MBMS and unicast servicesimultaneously in an NR system. The disclosure provides a method thatallows UE to simultaneously receive MBMS and unicast services. Themethod includes a UE sending an interest indication message to thenetwork. The indication message contains at least one of the following:a list of ongoing or intended MBMS and unicast services, a list ofcarrier frequencies for the services, and one or more reception modessupported by the UE. In response to the indication message, the networkconfigures downlink (DL) transmission of MBMS only, unicast only, orsimultaneous MBMS and unicast services over NR downlink, and sends radioframes of the configured downlink transmission to the UE.

In the description, an intended service in the disclosure may representa service of one of broadcast, multicast, groupcast, and unicast traffictypes a UE is to or intends to receive. A frequency may represent afrequency range or a frequency band defined based on the frequency fortransmission of at least one of the intended services.

With reference to FIG. 1 , a UE 10 a, a UE 10 b, a base station 200 a,and a network entity device 300 executes a method according to anembodiment of the present disclosure. Connections between devices anddevice components are shown as lines and arrows in the FIG. 1 . The UE10 a may include a processor 11 a, a memory 12 a, and a transceiver 13a. The UE 10 b may include a processor 11 b, a memory 12 b, and atransceiver 13 b. The base station 200 a may include a processor 201 a,a memory 202 a, and a transceiver 203 a. The network entity device 300may include a processor 301, a memory 302, and a transceiver 303. Eachof the processors 11 a, 11 b, 201 a, and 301 may be configured toimplement proposed functions, procedures and/or methods described inthis description. Layers of radio interface protocols may be implementedin the processors 11 a, 11 b, 201 a, and 301. Each of the memory 12 a,12 b, 202 a, and 302 operatively stores a variety of program andinformation to operate a connected processor. Each of the transceiver 13a, 13 b, 203 a, and 303 is operatively coupled with a connectedprocessor, transmits and/or receives radio signals. The base station 200a may be an eNB, a gNB, or one of other radio nodes.

Each of the processor 11 a, 11 b, 201 a, and 301 may include ageneral-purpose central processing unit (CPU), an application-specificintegrated circuits (ASICs), other chipsets, logic circuits and/or dataprocessing devices. Each of the memory 12 a, 12 b, 202 a, and 302 mayinclude a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a flashmemory, a memory card, a storage medium, other storage devices, and/orany combination of the memory and storage devices. Each of thetransceiver 13 a, 13 b, 203 a, and 303 may include baseband circuitryand radio frequency (RF) circuitry to process radio frequency signals.When the embodiments are implemented in software, the techniquesdescribed herein can be implemented with modules, procedures, functions,entities and so on, that perform the functions described herein. Themodules can be stored in a memory and executed by the processors. Thememory can be implemented within a processor or external to theprocessor, in which those can be communicatively coupled to theprocessor via various means are known in the art.

The network entity device 300 may be a node in a central network (CN).CN may include LTE CN or 5G core (5GC) which may include user planefunction (UPF), session management function (SMF), mobility managementfunction (AMF), unified data management (UDM), policy control function(PCF), control plane (CP)/user plane (UP) separation (CUPS),authentication server (AUSF), network slice selection function (NSSF),the network exposure function (NEF), and other network entities.

The 5G NR system reuses as much as possible the current unicast servicearchitecture and procedures to deliver for MBMS services. For example,with reference to FIG. 2 , the application function (AF) 212 in a 5GC220 is enhanced by introducing a new network function called multicastservice function (MSF) which provides MBMS service layer functionalityvia Npcf or Nnef interface. The network exposure function (NEF) and thepolicy control function (PCF) 213 are enhanced to exchange 5G MBMSquality of service (QoS) and service area related information with AF212, and the session policy related information with the sessionmanagement function (SMF) 214. The functions of SMF 216 and the userplane function (UPF) are enhanced to support the configuration/controlsof MBMS flows. The access and mobility function (AMF) 215 is alsoenhanced to support managing of transmission resources for MBMS acrossnext generation radio access network (NG-RAN) nodes 210 and 211.Interfaces N2, N3, N6, and N7 are defined in 5G related standards.

MBMS operation is detailed in the following.

To deliver MBMS over one same LTE frame with unicast service, MBMSrelated network entities may combine the transmission of an LTE physicaldownlink shared channels (PDSCH) with a physical multicast channel(PMCH) in the same LTE radio frame. An MBMS capable UE can camp on“RRC_IDLE” LTE cell, access stratum configuration, and read systeminformation SIB2 broadcasted by the cell on Broadcast Control Channel(BCCH) to discover availability of eMBMS service. The UE may interpretSIB2 to identify MBMS subframes allocation configuration. The MBMSsubframes allocation specifies which subframes are reserved for MBSFNtransmissions on the PMCH and which subframes are reserved for unicasttransmissions on the PDSCH. The MBSFN subframes has a repetition periodof 1 to 32 frames and do not interfere with subframes used for paging orsynchronization signals. After determining the subframes allocated forMBMS, the UE intending to receive MBMS services may continue readingSIB13 which carries MBSFN area configuration information and the mediumaccess control (MAC) control element for multicast channel (MCH)scheduling information (MSI). The UE may interpret the SIB13 to acquirethe following information: (1) the MBSFN area identifier of each areasupported by the cell; (2) the information regarding MCCH channelincluding the MCCH repetition period such as 32, 64, . . . , or 256frames, the MCCH offset, such as 0, 1, . . . , or 10 frames, the MCCHmodification period, such as 512, or 1024 frames, a modulation andcoding scheme (MCS), the subframe allocation information for MCCHindicated by the repetition period and offset; and (3) an MCCH changenotification configuration.

The UE may interpret the acquired information to receive MCH channelwhich carries an RRC signaling message about MBSFN area configuration.Each MBSFN area is associated with one MBSFN area configuration message.The MBSFN area configuration message includes: (1) the temporary mobilegroup identity (TMGI) and the session identifier for each multicasttraffic channels (MTCH) which is identified by a logical channelidentifier in each PMCH; (2) the allocated resources for each PMCH inthe area and the allocation period, such as 4, 8, . . . , or 256 frames,of the allocated resources for all the PMCHs within the area; and (3)the MCH scheduling period (MSP), such as 8, 16, . . . , or 1024 radioframes, over which the MSI MAC control element is transmitted. The MSIMAC control element is transmitted on the first subframe of eachscheduling period of the PMCH. The MSI indicates an end of the frame andsubframe of each MTCH within the PMCH for the UE. The UE can read thiscontrol element to receive an instance of MTCH channel. To determine thefrequency that provide the MBMS service to be received by UE, the UE maycheck user service description (USD) and/or read SIB15 which includes alist contain the current frequency and the neighboring frequencies,where each frequency in the list is associated with a list of MBMSservice area identities (SAIs) that is supported by the respectivefrequency while the USD includes a TMGI corresponding to each MBMS SAI,and further includes information associating the TMGIs and SAIs. For oneor more MBMS services of interest, the UE may use information providedby SIB15 and the USD to determine the MBMS SAIs associated with thecorresponding TMGI(s) of interest, and then specifies the frequency orfrequencies associated with the MBMS SAIs as the frequency orfrequencies of interests. After determining the frequency or frequenciesof interests UE can sends an RRC signaling message known as MBMSinterest indication message to the network to inform about intended MBMSservice or services provided by the respective frequency or frequencies.

The disclosure provides a method allowing a UE, such as one of the UEs10 a and 10 b, to receive MBMS and unicast service in the 5G NR system.With reference to FIG. 3 , the UE is in in an RRC connected mode (step310). The UE in an RRC connected mode determines an intended traffictype (step 311) and sends an indication message including intendedservice IDs representing the intended traffic type, carrier frequencies,and a reception mode, to the NW, such as one or both of the base station200 a and the NW entity 300 (step 312). The NW determines and configuresa traffic type represented by the service IDs on NR downlink (step 313)and sends radio frames of the configured traffic type to the UE (step314).

With reference to FIG. 4 , the UE in an RRC connected mode determinesone or more intended services of one or more traffic types (block 400)and sends an indication message to the NW, such as one or both of thebase station 200 a and the NW entity 300 (block 401). The traffic typesinclude MBMS, unicast, and simultaneous MBMS and unicast. The indicationmessage includes a list of intended one or more services, a list ofservice carrier frequencies, and a reception mode of the UE. The list ofintended services is a list of radio data bearers of the ongoing orintended services. For example, the radio data bearers may be identifiedby service identities (IDs). The UE may send the indication messageperiodically at the granularity of one NR radio frame. The message mayalso include a list of frequencies for the ongoing or intended MBMS andunicast services and the current supported reception mode of the UE. Thecurrent supported reception mode of the UE may include one of unicastonly, MBMS only, and simultaneous MBMS and unicast reception modes. Inresponse to the received indication message from UE, the NW configuresNR downlink, generates an NR downlink radio frame to include theintended services of respective traffic types, and sends the downlinkframe and downlink configuration information to UE. The configurationincludes radio resources allocation for the intended services of MBMSonly, unicast only, or simultaneous MBMS and unicast traffic type (block402). Radio frames of the unicast traffic type may be transmitted onPDSCH while radio frames of the MBMS traffic type may be transmitted onPMCH. Radio frames of the simultaneous unicast and MBMS transmission maybe transmitted on PDSCH and PMCH.

The UE sends an RRC signaling message called MBMS interest indicationmessage to the NW to indicate to NW that the UE intends to receive orcontinue receiving MBMS service. As shown in Table 1, according to LTETS 36.331 clause 6.2.2-MBMSInterestIndication, the MBMS InterestIndication message is included in an IE known as“MBMSinterestindication-r11-IEs”. The IE contains three types of IEs.The first IE is “mbms-FreqList-r11” IE, which includes a list of carrierfrequencies on which UE is to or intends to receive MBMS service. Thelist of carrier frequencies includes Evolved Universal Terrestrial RadioAccess (EUTRA) absolute radio frequency channel number (ARFCN) valuesprovided by the parameters of “CarrierFreqListMBMS-r11” IE. The secondIE is “mbms-Services-r11” includes a list of MBMS services which the UE(SC-PTM capable only UE) is to or intends to receive via multicast radiobearer (MRB). The list of MBMS services are provided by the parameters“MBMS-ServiceList” IE via TMGI and session ID. The third IE is“mbms-Priority-r11” IE which is used to indicate whether the UEprioritizes MBMS reception over unicast reception and vice versa. Forexample, presence or a true value of “mbms-Priority-r11” indicates thatthe UE prioritizes reception of all listed MBMS frequencies over thereception of any of the unicast bearers, and the absence or a falsevalue of this IE indicates that a unicast service has a higher prioritythan MBMS.

TABLE 1 MBMSInterestIndication message TS 36.331MBMSInterestIndication-rxx-IEs MBMSInterestIndication-r11-IEs ::=   SEQUENCE {  mbms-FreqList-r11 CarrierFreqListMBMS-r11 OPTIONAL, mbms-Priority-r11   ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL,  nonCriticalExtension  MBMSInterestIndication-v1310-IEs OPTIONAL }MBMSInterestIndication-v1310-IEs ::=    SEQUENCE {  mbms-Services-r13 MBMS-ServiceList-r13 OPTIONAL,  nonCriticalExtension MBMSInterestIndication-v1540-IEs OPTIONAL, }MBMSInterestIndication-v1540-IEs ::=     SEQUENCE {  mbms-ROM-InfoList-r15    SEQUENCE (SIZE(1..maxMBMS-ServiceListPerUE-r13))      OF MBMS-ROM-Info- r15  OPTIONAL,   nonCriticalExtension MBMSInterestIndication-r17-IEs OPTIONAL }

The current definition of “MBMSInterestIndication-r11-IEs” messageallows the UE to use “mbms-FreqList-r11” IE which only include the listsof frequencies for MBMS services via MRB, and does not supportindication of frequency or frequencies for unicast services to the NW.

That is, a UE using LTE MBMS cannot notify the NW of ongoing unicastservices via dedicated radio bearers (DRB). The NW cannot multiplex MBMSand unicast services on a downlink to UE.

The disclosed method provides a new information element in NR MBMSinterest indication message, including, for example,“MBMSInterestIndication-r17-IEs.” New IE MBMSInterestIndication-r17-IEs”comprises additional IEs to allow UE to send further information aboutthe ongoing or intended MBMS and unicast services in the indicationmessage to the NW so that the NW can efficiently multiplex MBMS andunicast transmission in NR downlink radio frames. The possible new IEsthat can be included in “MBMSInterestIndication-r17-IEs” include:

1) “unicast-FreqList-r17” IE which is used to indicate a list of carrierfrequencies on which the UE is to receive unicast services. The carrierfrequencies for unicast services may be NR ARFCN values that is providedby the parameter of “CarrierFreqListUnicast-r17” IE; and 2)“unicast-Services-r17” IE which is used to indicate a list the unicastservices that the UE is to receive. The unicast services may be evolvedpacket switched system (EPS) bearers via DRB which is provided by theparameters of “Unicast-ServiceList-r17” IE shown in Table 2 and Table 3.Introducing the new “MBMSInterestIndication-r17-IEs” and the othersrelated IEs may assist the NW on efficiently multiplexing the MBMS andunicast transmission in NR downlink radio frames. The MBMS and unicasttransmission may be multiplexed into subframes, slots, or evensub-slots.

TABLE 2 New Information Element “MBMSInterestIndication-r17-IEs”MBMSInterestIndication-r17-IEs MBMSInterestIndication-v1540-IEs ::=     SEQUENCE {   mbms-ROM-InfoList-r15     SEQUENCE (SIZE(1..maxMBMS-ServiceListPerUE-r13))         OF MBMS-ROM-Info- r15  OPTIONAL,   nonCriticalExtension   MBMSInterestIndication-r17-IEs OPTIONAL }MBMSInterestIndication-v17-IEs ::=      SEQUENCE {  mbms-FreqList-r17     CarrierFreqListMBMS-r11 OPTIONAL,  unicast-FreqList-r17      CarrierFreqListUnicas-r17 OPTIONAL,  unicast-Services-r17      Unicast-ServiceList-r17 OPTIONAL,  nonCriticalExtension   SEQUENCE { } OPTIONAL  } CarrierFreqListMBMS-r17 ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE(1..maxFreqMBMS-r11)) OF ARFCN-ValueNR maxFreqMBMS-r11   INTEGER ::=5  -- Maximum number of carrier freqs on which a UE can indicate       interest. CarrierFreqListUnicas-r17::= SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxFreq)) OF ARFCN- ValueNR maxFreq  INTEGER ::= 8 -- Maximum number offrequencies supported in NR system. Unicast-ServiceList-r17 ::= SEQUENCE(SIZE (1..maxDRB)) OF DRB- ToAddModLIst maxDRB INTEGER ::= 29 -- Maximumnumber of DRBs (that can be added in DRB-ToAddModLIst).

TABLE 3 Description of the new information element“MBMSInterestIndication-r17-IEs” MBMSInterestlndication-v17IEsmbms-FreqList-r17: The IE is used to indicate the list of MBMS carrierfrequencies on which the UE is to or intends to receive MBMS via an MRBor SC-MRB. The MBMS frequencies may be the NR ARFCN values provided bythe parameters of CarrierFreqListMBMS. unicast-FreqList-r17: The IE isused to indicate the list of unicast carrier frequencies on which the UEis to or intends to receive unicast services. The unicast carrierfrequencies may be NR ARFCN values provided by the parameter of“CarrierFreqListUnicast-r17.” unicast-Services-r17: The IE is used toindicate the list of t that the UE is to or intends to receive. Theunicast services may be the EPS bearers via DRB which is provided by theparameters of “Unicast-ServiceList-x\7 ” IE. The dedicated radio bearers(DRBs) may be represented by EPS bearer IDs.

With reference to Table 4 extracted from in TS 36.331 clause 5.8.5.3a,in LTE MBMS design, only SC-PTM capable UEs can transmit the informationregarding the ongoing MBMS services which is listed in the informationelement “mbms-Services-r13” of “MBMSInterestIndication-r17-IEs” to theNW.

TABLE 4 Determining MBMS services of interest 5.8.5.3a Determine MBMSservices of interest The UE shall: 1> consider a MBMS service to be partof the MBMS services of interest if the  following conditions are met: 2> the UE is SC-PTM capable; and  2> the UE is receiving or interestedto receive this service via an SC-MRB; and  2> one session of thisservice is ongoing or about to start; and  2> one or more MBMS SAIs inthe USD for this service is included in   SystemInformationBlockTypel5acquired from the PCell for a frequency   belonging to the set of MBMSfrequencies of interest, determined according to   5.8.5.3.

With reference to Tables 5, 6, 7, and 8, in the disclosed method, the anMBSFN capable UE, such as one of the UE 10 a and UE 10 b, transmits“mbms-Services-r17” IE information to the NW. The IE related to MBMSservices was introduced since LTE release 13 and can be sent to thenetwork by an SC-PTM capable UE only as captured in TS 36.331. In NR, toinclude such an IE in the interest indication message for MBSSFN capableUE is useful, because the information provided by “mbms-Services-r17” IEin addition to “unicast-Services-r17” IE can be used by the NW todetermine how to multiplex the MBMS and unicast services in NR downlinkframes.

TABLE 5 The redefined information element MBMSInterestIndication-r17-IEsMBMSInterestIndication-r17-IEs ::=   SEQUENCE {    mbms-FreqList-r17   CarrierFreqListMBMS-r11 OPTIONAL,    unicast-FreqList-r17    CarrierFreqListUnicas-r17 OPTIONAL,    unicast-Services-r17    Unicast-ServiceList-r17 OPTIONAL,    mbms-Services-r17   MBMS-ServiceList-r13 OPTIONAL,  nonCriticalExtension   SEQUENCE { }OPTIONAL  } MBMS-ServiceList-r13 ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE(0..maxMBMS-ServiceListPerUE- r13)) OF MBMS-ServiceInfo-r13maxMBMS-ServiceListPerUE-r13  INTEGER ::= 1 5 -- Maximum number ofservices which UE can include      an interest indication.

TABLE 6 The redefined information element descriptionMBMSInterestIndication-v17IEs mbms-ServiceList-r17: The IEMBMS-ServiceList provides the list of MBMS services. The MBMS servicesprovided by the parameters “MBMS-ServiceList” include MBMS service whichUE is to or intends to receive through multicast radio bearers (MRBs)via TMGI, SAI ID, and session IDs.

In LTE MBMS, reception mode related information element that can be sentfrom the UE to the NW is defined by “mbms-Priority-r11” IE, which mayprevent UE to support simultaneous reception of MBMS and uncastservices. Because the “mbms-Priority-r11” IE defines the reception modeusing a binary or logical variable which can be set either true orfalse. This binary value of “mbms-Priority-r11” IE allows UE toexclusively support only one of reception modes. That is, at any givensubframe, the UE can either receive unicast or MBMS service but notboth.

The disclosed method introduces a new information element“reception-Mode-r17” to NR to indicate additional reception modes, andredefines the value of the IE by a categorical variable rather than alogical variable. The categorical variable may be a numeral variableindicating one of the reception modes including unicast only, MBMS only,and simultaneous unicast and MBMS reception modes. The majorfunctionalities of “reception-Mode-r17” IE include:

1). Allowing the UE to support NR features of concurrent unicast andMBMS reception while keeping backward compatibility with legacy LTE MBMSarchitecture;

2). Assisting the NW to properly multiplex MBMS and unicast transmissionin an NR downlink.

TABLE 7 The redefined new information elementMBMSInterestIndication-r17-IEs MBMSInterestIndication-v1540-IEs ::=    SEQUENCE {    mbms-ROM-InfoList-r15     SEQUENCE (SIZE(1..maxMBMS-ServiceListPerUE-r13))       OF MBMS-ROM-Info- r15 OPTIONAL,    nonCriticalExtension  MBMSInterestIndication-r17-IEs OPTIONAL,  nonCriticalExtension   SEQUENCE { } OPTIONAL }MBMSInterestIndication-r17-IEs: =    SEQUENCE {    mbms-FreqList-r17     CarrierFreqListMBMS-r11 OPTIONAL,    unicast-FreqList-r17      CarrierFreqListUnicas-r17 OPTIONAL,    unicast-Services-r17      Unicast-ServiceList-r17 OPTIONAL,    mbms-Services-r17     MBMS-ServiceList-r13 OPTIONAL,    reception-Mode-r17      ENUMERATED {unicast, mbms, simultaneous}    OPTIONAL,   nonCriticalExtension SEQUENCE { } OPTIONAL  }

TABLE 8 Description of the new information element“MBMSInterestIndication-v17IEs” MBMSInterestlndication-v17IEsReception-Mode-r17: The IE is used to indicate a reception mode of theUE. In a unicast reception mode, the UE only receives unicast services.In an MBMS reception mode, the UE only receives MBMS services. In asimultaneous unicast and MBMS reception mode, the UE concurrentlyreceives MBMS and unicast services.

The disclosed method, the proposed information elements may betransmitted from UE to NW in an interest indication message, anMBMScountingRespone message, or any other alternative way.

Two examples of the disclosed method using the proposed new IEs aredetailed in the following. The NW may interpret the IEs to allocate andconfigure PDSCH and PMCH transmission in downlink. One example is singleband MBMS deployment, and the other is multiband deployment in NR.

With reference to FIG. 5 , in the example of single band MBMSdeployment, the UE in an RRC connected mode camps on a frequency band F1in a NW with single band deployed MBMS, and intends to receive MBMSservices. The UE may initially intend to receive two MBMS services, suchas a news service (S1) and a sports service (S2), and simultaneously aunicast service (S3), such as file download. The UE may transmit an MBMSinterest indication message 501 to the NW to indicate the intended MBMSservices S2 an S3 and the unicast service S3 (step 501). The interestindication message may include the frequency F1 in the fields ofmbms-FreqList-r17 and unicast-FreqList-r17 IEs, the MBMS services (S1,S2) in the field of mbms-Services-r17 and the unicast service S3 inunicast-Services-r17, and a traffic type value of “simultaneous”representing a reception mode of the UE in the felid of“Reception-Mode-r17”. As shown in FIG. 5 , the indication message may berepresented by a message M1: [(S1,S2),(S3),(F1), Simultaneous]. Afterreceiving the indication message M1 from UE, the NW identifies themessage and determines that simultaneous transmission of PMCH and PDSCHon a single frequency is required for a current NR downlink radio frame.Consequently, the NW multiplexes the transmission of PDSCH and PMCH, forexample, in time domain at granularity of a subframe, in the NR downlinkradio frame 1 in response to the message M1 (step 502). Subsequently,when the news service S2 and sports service S3 stop temporarily, the UEtransmits another indication message M2: [(S3), (F1), unicast] to theNW. In response to the message M2, the NW changes the NR downlinkconfiguration to generate NR downlink radio frame 2 which only includesPDSCH the unicast service S3. Similarly, when file download completesand the sports service S2 is resumed, the UE transmits anotherindication message M3: [(S2), (F1), mbms] to the NW. In response to themessage M3, the NW changes the NR downlink configuration to generate NRdownlink radio frame 3 which includes PMCH channel only for MBMSservices S1 and S2. Note that some subframes were left for paging andsynchronization according to current LTE design but may be alterable.

Accordingly, the UE transmits an indication message to the NW toindicate a first intended service of a first traffic type and a secondintended service of a second traffic type. The first intended servicemay include the service S1 and S2 of the MBMS traffic type, and thesecond intended service may include the service S3. The first traffictype may be MBMS traffic, and the second traffic type may be unicasttraffic. The NW receives the indication message, configures a downlinkon frequency F1 to the UE based on the indication message, and transmita downlink frame, such as one of the radio frames 1, 2, and 3 in FIG. 5, according to the downlink configuration. The UE receives the downlinkconfiguration which is generated based on the indication message. The UEreceives the downlink frame carrying the first intended service and thesecond intended service according to the downlink configuration.

In an embodiment of the disclosure, the UE receives a first radioresource unit of the first intended service and a second radio resourceunit of the second intended service according to the downlinkconfiguration. The first radio resource unit and the second radioresource unit may be subframes, sub-slots, or mini-slots, that aremultiplexed into different time slots on a same frequency band F1.

With reference to FIG. 6 , in the example of Multiband MBMS deployment,the UE may request MBMS services including the news service (S1), thesports service (S2), and unicast services, such as file download (S3).When intending to receive one or more of these service on multiplefrequencies, such as F1 and F2, the UE can send an indication messageindicating these carrier frequencies and services to the NW (step 601).The transmitted indication message may be represented by M1: [(S1, S2),(S3), (F1, F2), Simultaneous]. According to the indication message, thenetwork can determine that the multiplexing of PMCH and PDSCH ondifferent frequencies F1 and F2 in a current radio frame is required forthe services S1, S2, and S3. Subsequently, in response to the messageM1, the NW allocates, for example, a PDSCH channel on first frequency F1and a PMCH channel on second frequency F2 in a radio frame 1 shown inFIG. 6 (step 602), so that the UE can receive MBMS services and unicastservice simultaneously. Similarly, to stop the MBMS services S1 and S2on F1 and F2, and continue the unicast service S3 on F1 and F2, the UEmay use an indication message represented by a message M2: [S3, (F1,F2), unicast] to indicate both F1 and F2 to the NW as the frequenciesfor the unicast service S3. The network may in response to theindication message M2 allocate the PDSCH channel on both frequencies F1and F2 in radio frame 2. Subsequently, the UE may move to a place wherethe signal of the second frequency F2 is weak while one of the MBMSservices, such as S2, is resumed, and the unicast service S3 is stillongoing. The UE may transmit an indication message M3: [S2, S3, (F1),Simultaneous] to the NW. In response to the message M3, the NW mayallocate and configure PDSCH and PMCH in a radio frame 3 as illustratedin FIG. 6 .

As detailed in the two examples, IEs for indicating intended services ofspecific traffic types, carrier frequencies, and reception mode of UEare redefined to allow the simultaneous transmission and reception ofMBMS and unicast in NR while keeping a backward compatibility withcurrent LTE MBMS architecture. The information elements in thedisclosure provide beneficial effects to the UE and NW. The NW mayallocate dynamic transmission of PMCH and PDSCH in a downlink radioframe. The UE may indicate intended unicast and MBMS services in anindication message using the IEs. The NW may allocate radio resources,such as subframes, sub-slots, or mini-slots, in each downlink radioframe for PMCH and PDSCH channels in response to the indication message.The allocation of radio resources in one radio frame for PMCH and PDSCHchannels may be represented by percentages.

Similarly, the UE transmits an indication message to the NW to indicatea first intended service of a first traffic type and a second intendedservice of a second traffic type. The first intended service may includethe service S1 and S2 of the MBMS traffic type, and the second intendedservice may include the service S3. The first traffic type may be MBMStraffic, and the second traffic type may be unicast traffic. The NWreceives the indication message, configures a downlink to the UE onfrequencies F1 and F2 based on the indication message, and transmit adownlink frame, such as one of the radio frames 1, 2, and 3 in FIG. 6 ,according to the downlink configuration. The UE receives the downlinkconfiguration which is generated based on the indication message. The UEreceives the downlink frame carrying the first intended service and thesecond intended service according to the downlink configuration.

In an embodiment of the disclosure, the UE receives a first radioresource unit of the first intended service and a second radio resourceunit of the second intended service according to the downlinkconfiguration. The first radio resource unit and the second radioresource unit may be subframes, sub-slots, or mini-slots, that aremultiplexed on different frequency bands F1 and F2.

The UE transmits an information element to indicate a MBMS service listto the network in both SC-PTM and MBSFN operation modes. The networkreceives the information element indicating a MBMS service list intendedby a user equipment in both SC-PTM and MBSFN operation modes andutilizes the information element to determine allocation of a unicastservice versus a multicast/broadcast service on the downlink frame.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an example system 700 for wirelesscommunication according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.Embodiments described herein may be implemented into the system usingany suitably configured hardware and/or software. FIG. 7 illustrates thesystem 700 including a radio frequency (RF) circuitry 710, a basebandcircuitry 720, an application circuitry 730, a memory/storage 740, asensor 770, and an input/output (I/O) interface 780, coupled with eachother at least as illustrated.

The application circuitry 730 may include a circuitry, such as, but notlimited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. Theprocessors may include any combinations of general-purpose processorsand dedicated processors, such as graphics processors and applicationprocessors. The processors may be coupled with the memory/storage andconfigured to execute instructions stored in the memory/storage toenable various applications and/or operating systems running on thesystem.

The baseband circuitry 720 may include a circuitry, such as, but notlimited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. Theprocessors may include a baseband processor. The baseband circuitry mayhandle various radio control functions that enable communication withone or more radio networks via the RF circuitry. The radio controlfunctions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation,encoding, decoding, radio frequency shifting, etc. In some embodiments,the baseband circuitry may provide for communication compatible with oneor more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, thebaseband circuitry may support communication with an evolved universalterrestrial radio access network (EUTRAN) and/or other wirelessmetropolitan area networks (WMAN), a wireless local area network (WLAN),a wireless personal area network (WPAN). Embodiments in which thebaseband circuitry is configured to support radio communications of morethan one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode basebandcircuitry. In various embodiments, the baseband circuitry 720 mayinclude circuitry to operate with signals that are not strictlyconsidered as being in a baseband frequency. For example, in someembodiments, baseband circuitry may include circuitry to operate withsignals having an intermediate frequency, which is between a basebandfrequency and a radio frequency.

The RF circuitry 710 may enable communication with wireless networksusing modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. Invarious embodiments, the RF circuitry may include switches, filters,amplifiers, etc. to facilitate the communication with the wirelessnetwork. In various embodiments, the RF circuitry 710 may includecircuitry to operate with signals that are not strictly considered asbeing in a radio frequency. For example, in some embodiments, RFcircuitry may include circuitry to operate with signals having anintermediate frequency, which is between a baseband frequency and aradio frequency.

In various embodiments, the transmitter circuitry, control circuitry, orreceiver circuitry discussed above with respect to the user equipment,eNB, or gNB may be embodied in whole or in part in one or more of the RFcircuitries, the baseband circuitry, and/or the application circuitry.As used herein, “circuitry” may refer to, be part of, or include anApplication Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, aprocessor (shared, dedicated, or group), and/or a memory (shared,dedicated, or group) that execute one or more software or firmwareprograms, a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitable hardwarecomponents that provide the described functionality. In someembodiments, the electronic device circuitry may be implemented in, orfunctions associated with the circuitry may be implemented by, one ormore software or firmware modules. In some embodiments, some or all ofthe constituent components of the baseband circuitry, the applicationcircuitry, and/or the memory/storage may be implemented together on asystem on a chip (SOC).

The memory/storage 740 may be used to load and store data and/orinstructions, for example, for system. The memory/storage for oneembodiment may include any combination of suitable volatile memory, suchas dynamic random access memory (DRAM), and/or non-volatile memory, suchas flash memory. In various embodiments, the I/O interface 780 mayinclude one or more user interfaces designed to enable user interactionwith the system and/or peripheral component interfaces designed toenable peripheral component interaction with the system. User interfacesmay include, but are not limited to a physical keyboard or keypad, atouchpad, a speaker, a microphone, etc. Peripheral component interfacesmay include, but are not limited to, a non-volatile memory port, auniversal serial bus (USB) port, an audio jack, and a power supplyinterface.

In various embodiments, the sensor 770 may include one or more sensingdevices to determine environmental conditions and/or locationinformation related to the system. In some embodiments, the sensors mayinclude, but are not limited to, a gyro sensor, an accelerometer, aproximity sensor, an ambient light sensor, and a positioning unit. Thepositioning unit may also be part of, or interact with, the basebandcircuitry and/or RF circuitry to communicate with components of apositioning network, e.g., a global positioning system (GPS) satellite.In various embodiments, the system 700 may be a mobile computing devicesuch as, but not limited to, a laptop computing device, a tabletcomputing device, a netbook, an ultrabook, a smartphone, etc. In variousembodiments, system may have more or less components, and/or differentarchitectures. Where appropriate, methods described herein may beimplemented as a computer program. The computer program may be stored ona storage medium, such as a non-transitory storage medium.

The embodiment of the present disclosure is a combination oftechniques/processes that can be adopted in 3GPP specification to createan end product.

A person having ordinary skill in the art understands that each of theunits, algorithm, and steps described and disclosed in the embodimentsof the present disclosure are realized using electronic hardware orcombinations of software for computers and electronic hardware. Whetherthe functions run in hardware or software depends on the condition ofapplication and design requirement for a technical plan. A person havingordinary skill in the art can use different ways to realize the functionfor each specific application while such realizations should not gobeyond the scope of the present disclosure. It is understood by a personhaving ordinary skill in the art that he/she can refer to the workingprocesses of the system, device, and unit in the above-mentionedembodiment since the working processes of the above-mentioned system,device, and unit are basically the same. For easy description andsimplicity, these working processes will not be detailed.

It is understood that the disclosed system, device, and method in theembodiments of the present disclosure can be realized with other ways.The above-mentioned embodiments are exemplary only. The division of theunits is merely based on logical functions while other divisions existin realization. It is possible that a plurality of units or componentsare combined or integrated in another system. It is also possible thatsome characteristics are omitted or skipped. On the other hand, thedisplayed or discussed mutual coupling, direct coupling, orcommunicative coupling operate through some ports, devices, or unitswhether indirectly or communicatively by ways of electrical, mechanical,or other kinds of forms.

The units as separating components for explanation are or are notphysically separated. The units are or are not physical units, that is,located in one place or distributed on a plurality of network units.Some or all of the units are used according to the purposes of theembodiments. Moreover, each of the functional units in each of theembodiments can be integrated in one processing unit, physicallyindependent, or integrated in one processing unit with two or more thantwo units.

If the software function unit is realized and used and sold as aproduct, it can be stored in a readable storage medium in a computer.Based on this understanding, the technical plan proposed by the presentdisclosure can be essentially or partially realized as the form of asoftware product. Or, one part of the technical plan beneficial to theconventional technology can be realized as the form of a softwareproduct. The software product in the computer is stored in a storagemedium, including a plurality of commands for a computational device(such as a personal computer, a server, or a network device) to run allor some of the steps disclosed by the embodiments of the presentdisclosure. The storage medium includes a USB disk, a mobile hard disk,a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a floppy disk,or other kinds of media capable of storing program codes.

In the disclosure, IEs for indicating intended services of specifictraffic types, carrier frequencies, and reception mode of UE areredefined to allow the simultaneous transmission and reception of MBMSand unicast in NR while keeping a backward compatibility with currentLTE MBMS architecture. The information elements in the disclosureprovide beneficial effects to the UE and NW. The NW may allocate dynamictransmission of PMCH and PDSCH in a downlink radio frame. The UE mayindicate intended unicast and MBMS services in an indication messageusing the IEs. The NW may allocate radio resources, such as subframes,sub-slots, or mini-slots, in each downlink radio frame for PMCH andPDSCH channels in response to the indication message.

While the present disclosure has been described in connection with whatis considered the most practical and preferred embodiments, it isunderstood that the present disclosure is not limited to the disclosedembodiments but is intended to cover various arrangements made withoutdeparting from the scope of the broadest interpretation of the appendedclaims

1. A method for unicast, broadcast, and multicast services, executableby a user equipment, comprising: transmitting an indication message toindicate a first intended service of a first traffic type and a secondintended service of a second traffic type, wherein one of the firsttraffic type and the second traffic type is unicast traffic, and theother one of the first traffic type and the second traffic type isnon-unicast traffic; receiving downlink configuration which is generatedbased on the indication message; and receiving a downlink frame carryingthe first intended service and the second intended service according tothe downlink configuration.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein theindication message further comprises a list of at least one of theintended services.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the indicationmessage further comprises a list of carrier frequencies of the at leastone of intended services.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein theindication message further comprises a reception mode for receiving thefirst intended service and the second intended service.
 5. The method ofclaim 4, wherein the reception mode comprises one of a unicast receptionmode, a non-unicast reception mode, and a simultaneous unicast andnon-unicast reception mode.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein thenon-unicast reception mode comprises at least one of a broadcast, amulticast, or group cast reception mode.
 7. The method of claim 1,wherein the non-unicast traffic comprises at least one of broadcasttraffic, multicast traffic, and groupcast traffic.
 8. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: receiving a first radio resource unit ofthe first intended service and a second radio resource unit of thesecond intended service according to the downlink configuration, whereinthe first radio resource unit and the second radio resource unit aremultiplexed into different time slots on a same frequency band.
 9. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: receiving a first radio resourceunit of the first intended service and a second radio resource unit ofthe second intended service according to the downlink configuration,wherein the first radio resource unit and the second radio resource unitare multiplexed on different frequency bands.
 10. The method of claim 1,further comprising: transmitting an information element to indicate theintended services to a network, wherein the information element is usedby the network to determine allocation of a unicast service versus amulticast/broadcast service on the downlink frame.
 11. A method forunicast, broadcast, and multicast services, executable by a networkdevice, comprising: receiving an indication message indicating a firstintended service of a first traffic type and a second intended serviceof a second traffic type, wherein one of the first traffic type and thesecond traffic type is unicast traffic, and the other one of the firsttraffic type and the second traffic type is non-unicast traffic;transmitting downlink configuration which is generated based on theindication message; and transmitting a downlink frame carrying the firstintended service and the second intended service according to thedownlink configuration.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein theindication message further comprises a list of intended servicesincluding the first intended service and the second intended service.13. The method of claim 12, wherein the indication message furthercomprises a list of carrier frequencies for the first intended serviceand the second intended service.
 14. The method of claim 13, wherein theindication message further comprises a reception mode for receiving thefirst intended service and the second intended service.
 15. The methodof claim 14, wherein the reception mode comprises one of a unicastreception mode, a non-unicast reception mode, and a simultaneous unicastand non-unicast reception mode.
 16. The method of claim 15, wherein thenon-unicast reception mode comprises at least one of a broadcast, amulticast, or group cast reception mode.
 17. The method of claim 11,wherein the non-unicast traffic comprises at least one of broadcasttraffic, multicast traffic, and groupcast traffic.
 18. The method ofclaim 11, further comprising: transmitting a first radio resource unitof the first intended service and a second radio resource unit of thesecond intended service according to the downlink configuration, whereinthe first radio resource unit and the second radio resource unit aremultiplexed into different time slots on a same frequency band.
 19. Themethod of claim 11, further comprising: transmitting a first radioresource unit of the first intended service and a second radio resourceunit of the second intended service according to the downlinkconfiguration, wherein the first radio resource unit and the secondradio resource unit are multiplexed on different frequency bands. 20.(canceled)
 21. An apparatus comprising: a transceiver; and a processorconnected with the transceiver and configured to execute the followingsteps comprising: transmitting an indication message to indicate a firstintended service of a first traffic type and a second intended serviceof a second traffic type, wherein one of the first traffic type and thesecond traffic type is unicast traffic, and the other one of the firsttraffic type and the second traffic type is non-unicast traffic;receiving downlink configuration which is generated based on theindication message; and receiving a downlink frame carrying the firstintended service and the second intended service according to thedownlink configuration. 22-48. (canceled)